


Dream Pollen

by ZoeTheNormalBeing



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angel Hunk (Voltron), Domestic Fluff, Dream Poison, Dream Pollen, Dreams and Nightmares, Even if it is just a dream, Fluff and Angst, Getting Together, Homesick Lance (Voltron), Lance has depressing dreams, M/M, Medically Induced Dream, Mutual Pining, Oblivious Keith (Voltron), Oblivious Lance (Voltron), Orphan Keith (Voltron), Pining, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Lance (Voltron), Rated Mature for them too, Sexual innuendos, Sharing a Bed, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Touch-Starved Keith (Voltron), is that a thing?, something unnaturally gives Lance dreams, that's the plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-06
Updated: 2019-11-06
Packaged: 2020-11-24 20:08:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20913383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZoeTheNormalBeing/pseuds/ZoeTheNormalBeing
Summary: Edit November 10th 2020: This fic is going to be re-written in the future! (See Chapter 1 notes for details)When on a mission, Lance gets more trouble than it's worth to smell a sweet aroma-ed flower.So now he keeps dreaming about everything he wants in life, just to wake up and not have it.Oh yeah, and Keith is NOT helping.Though, if(and ONLY if)he's the main point of the dreams, Keith can't help.(Or can he?)





	1. Depeams

**Author's Note:**

> Edit November 10th 2020: As the summary says, this is going to be re-written! It's probably going to take a while because I don't want to write myself into a hole like I did previously, but I really love the idea I made into this fic but honestly hate the execution. So, I'm re-writing it! I'm actually going to do the re-writing on this posted fic, so if you want to read what I have now I suggest doing it before it's too late. When the chapters are reset to 1, that's when I've begun the re-writing. 
> 
> Little bit of extra information, if this isn't done by about August 2021, the updates will get very slow or even non-existent since I'm hoping to go through a program to get my associate's degree along with my highschool diploma. Not sure if I'm gonna even be able to do it, but I wanted to put the warning here regardless. Prepare for the worst, hope for the best or whatever.
> 
> God, I've had this in my Docs forever and started it soooo long ago. I guess I was just nervous that this would turn out like One Night Klance so I just... didn't post it until now. I kinda wanted to wait until I finished the entire thing but I decided against it.
> 
> This work is inspired by an [animatic](https://youtu.be/eBt8MRouh1E) to the song "I Want You", by Scoff Sco.
> 
> I don't own that animatic, nor do I want to take any credit from it. I just saw it and this started up in my mind so I wrote it.

At first, it was suddenly waking up in the middle of the night, with a rather depressing aura remaining, but that's all.

Then, it was small little glimpses into another life, that disappeared soon after waking, but left his eyes watery.

Soon, there were entire conversations being held, that felt so real, and left a few tear tracks.

Finally, they nearly turned lucid. He could control nearly everything there but didn't know he was in a dream until he woke up. They started picking up where they left off at times, and eventually, Lance couldn't forget the dreams no matter how hard he tried. The lines between reality and dreams remained set in stone, straying greater and greater, to remind him that these dreams were just dreams. Not something he could ever have. 

He sobs.

Eventually, it started affecting his training. He was depressed from rapid awakening to the real world, and tired from sleepless nights spent crying. He was getting yelled at more often, which didn't help his mood. He tried to work harder, only making him more exhausted. Eventually, when he passed out one day while fighting the Gladiator, the team realized this was more of a problem than they earlier suspected, especially when the healing pod showed that he was lacking in many nutrients and was dehydrated.

Hunk caught Lance when he fell from the pod, and pulled him into a bone-crushing bear hug, before loosening up so that Lance could breathe.

"Lance, thank God you're okay. What happened? Why have you been so tired?"

Lance looked at Hunk after he pulled out of the hug, a sad smile not hiding the dark circles under his eyes.

"It's nothing, really."

Keith stormed in a moment after.

"NOTHING? Are you insane, Lance? If you went like that for too much longer you could've died!"

Pidge strode in after him, slightly shocked at Keith's odd outburst. He'd been acting… off, ever since Lance was put in the pod.

"He's exaggerating, but you really were in bad shape."

Allura, Shiro, and Coran finally strolled in, Coran with his head held high and hands folded behind his back.

"Hello, my boy! I assume you are feeling better?"

"Yeah, I am, thank you Coran."

Everyone was irked by the fact Lance wasn't smiling much.

"I should probably get back to training, since I've missed so much-"

"What."

Keith didn't ask it as a question. He, sturdy but slow, walked up to Lance, taking another step with each syllable.

"You. Almost. DIED."

"Exaggeration."

He stopped walking, and turned to Pidge before returning to Lance.

"Shut up, Pidge. You nearly died from training too much, and you want to return? Are you serious?"

Lance smiled a little at him.

"Wow, didn't think you believed in too much training."

"Well I do for people I care about!"

Lance's face went slack with shock, but Keith, not noticing, continued.

"You overworked yourself, Lance! Not only is the universe depending on you, but I am! We all are! If you think it's a totally normal, every-day thing to pass out from overexertion, you're being idiotic."

Lance stood like a statue, not sure how to respond.

Allura stepped forward a little, and everyone turned to her. Keith stayed at Lance's side.

"Do you know if there was a specific reason that this occurred?"

"Um..."

It was a single statement, something he wasn't going to continue. Allura, understanding this, tried to make the question easier to answer.

"Well, we haven't been to many planets lately, but there was this planet we went to that had a... Coran, what was it?"

"Flower, Princess! It was a flower only found on Dhleu." (Pronounced De-Ha-Loo)

Allura sighed, since she knew it was a flower but wanted the name, while Lance smirked.

"Oh yeah, I remember that planet, I got a bouquet of flowers for you, Allura," Lance said. "I remember I couldn't pronounce the name of the place."

Allura sighed, again, and Coran continued.

"Well, the flowers there are quite the attraction! Most are completely harmless, but there was this flower from there that caused people to have sleeping issues. Because of the illness it caused, the planet was mostly avoided, despite there being an antidote!"

"Wait, so, there's an antidote?"

"Yes, my dear boy; but we don't have the recipe. The species refused to give it to us, for fear that we would use it for ill intentions, especially because for many people it was used as a torture method."

"Alright, so I may have an illness from a flower that was used for torture, but we don't have the antidote recipe since they were scared we were gonna use it like the Galran Empire or some other baddies. So, I guess our only option is to go back to the planet and get it, right?"

Coran sighed, and his face turned to an expression that could only be called sadness.

"That is the thing... The citizens became immune to the effects of the pollen about seven thousand deca-phoebes ago. Since they're a rather private species, nobody came to the planet, so they didn't need the antidote anymore. The recipe was erased by time. I'm sure with the help of number 5 and 2, we will be able to come up with the antidote, though!"

Lance stared at him with a blank face.

"So I'm stuck with these stupid dreams?"

"Dreams? What do you mean, my boy?"

"I keep having these dreams, with all these happy things I wish I could have or do, but when I wake back up reality slaps me in the face and I have to accept it will never happen."

Coran studied him for a moment.

"I remember a description like that... One moment!"

He left quickly, a jump in his step, but that wasn't far from his normal self.

Allura spoke up next.

"I want to see what he is up to, maybe find an easier way to explain it, because you all know how he is."

She left.

"Pidge, can you show me what the readings showed on planet Dleoo? Wait, no, Dloo. Wait. Shit."

Lance, Hunk, Pidge, and Keith gasped.

Lance, however, was the only one who spoke up.

"Space Daddy swore!"

Shiro let out a groan.

"Please, for the love of God, do not call me that."

Pidge started walking to the doors, a purpose in their steps.

"C'mon, 'Space Daddy', I'll show you the readings on Dhleu."

Keith and Lance giggled like the children they are, while Hunk gave Shiro a bashful yet forgiving look until the door obstructed his view of him.

Hunk slowly turned to Lance, so that they were kind of in a triangle-shaped group, not too far apart.

"So... I may regret asking this, but Lance, what exactly do these dreams entail?"

He remembers a smile, slightly covered in black locks.

"Mostly about home."

Pale hands clasping onto his, slightly callused but soft all the same.

"My family."

Violet eyes, clouded over with something resembling hunger, desire.

"Oh, and the Galra are defeated. Like, they existed, but the damage was reversed. Like... After this all ends, where eventually it'll be something we know about but won't affect us. It'll become just another war from our past. Like World War Three."

"Alright, that all sounds great, buddy, but are you sure there are no women in those dreams?"

Lance, with a blank face and monotone voice, responds.

"My mom, sisters, and Abuela are there."

Hunk sighed and gave a look to Lance that could only be depicted as 'Are you serious?'.

"I mean like a romantic relationship."

Lance started thinking about his words more thoroughly to not give too much away.

"Well... Yes."

Blood rushed to his face.

"Oh my God, it's totally someone we know, isn't it? Who is it?!"

Lance wearily looked at Hunk, not sure what to do.

Keith broke the silence for the first time since Pidge and Shiro left.

"Are you sure he wants to share that information, Hunk?"

He ignored him.

"Oh, it's totally Allura, isn't it?!"

Lance gave him a poker face.

"Wait, what? How... How isn't it Allura? Who else could it be?"

Keith sighed again.

"Give him a break, Hunk. He said that these dreams were pretty... Sad, I suppose? I doubt he wants to talk about them much."

Lance sent Keith a grateful look, despite him not getting the reasoning right.

"Oh... You're right. Sorry buddy, I just got a little excited. Please tell me someday, though!"

Lance snorted.

"When pigs fly."

Keith spoke up again.

"There may be flying pigs in space, Lance."

Lance sighed.

"I will never tell you, Hunk. I'm sorry, but unlike you and Shay, this is somebody I can't tell about my... Affections."

Hunks' face dropped, completely grazing over the Shay comment.

"Oh, okay buddy... Wait. Is the reason you don't want to say because the dreams got... spicy?"

Lance's face burst into flames.

"Did you just accuse me of having a wet dream?"

"No! I just... asked if events that happen in wet dreams occur."

Lance hid his face behind his hands.

"E...yess."

"Oh my God, every night? Jeez, how many times have you had to change your sheets?"

Lance crumbled into a blushing mess on the floor, but moved his hands so that he would be audible and understandable.

"I haven't, Hunk. It's like I'm traveling to another realm with these dreams."

"What?"

Keith sighed.

"He's having 'wet dreams' or whatever without the wet part."

"Ohhh, okay."

Coran and Allura stepped in at that moment but stopped to see the scenario unfolding in front of them.

Allura's authoritative voice traveled across the room.

"What is going on here?"

Keith pointed to Hunk.

"It's his fault!"

"It's not like I meant to!"

"Guys, can you just be quiet? I'm fine." He stood up, and while his face still had some color to it, he looked mostly normal. "See? Now, what did you find?"

"Ah, right! Yes, well, it was quite the conundrum. It took some researching, and it was practically like looking for a blob of food goo in a pack of yelmors, but we found some information!"

Allura nodded and stepped closer to the group.

"Yes, we did. The last recorded site of this illness was nine thousand deca-phoebes ago, but they were quite thorough with their observations. They were the Natilioaus people and quite scientifically advanced. One of their exploration teams landed on Dhleu, and one of their guards caught the disease from a blue, purple, and red flower, where the blue was at the beginning of the petal, purple in the middle, and red at the tips. Do you remember a flower like that, Lance?"

His eyes widened.

"Yeah, it smelt really good, so I ended up sniffing it as we passed by. Oh God, that's what caused this illness, isn't it?"

Allura softly nodded.

"Weirdly enough, the antidote did not work on that particular species. While the Dhleuns were attempting to make an antidote tailored to their species, they were surprised to find a second antidote, just with a far more complicated solution. The guard had one of the main desires of his come true, and the dreams stopped."

"Wait, so how do I know what my desires are, exactly?"

"Well, my boy, one thing the Princess here forgot to mention was that the dreams you are having are based on your deepest desires!"

"Coran is right, Lance. The events happening in your dreams are things that are nearly impossible to occur. It's kind of like if the Galra suddenly surrendered for no reason. It is possible but so unlikely that it isn't even accounted for most of the time."

"But... Everything happens on Earth."

Allura changed her vision to the floor, deep in thought.

"Well then, my boy, are there any events that can occur without being by your home planet?"

The color red flashed in his head.

"I mean... Yeah, but that could take years, and the other one is impossible."

"Well, it can't be impossible, Lance. It has to have at least one scenario where it could work out."

"He... it just won't work, okay?"

Allura frowned but nodded.

"So, I suppose for the time being you are stuck with these dreams, Lance."

He sighed and nodded.

"Oh, and you should get some rest. Keith, you've been overworking yourself too, just not as bad, but if you could escort Lance to his room and make sure he sleeps, please do. Hunk, Shiro and Pidge need assistance in the green hangar."

Hunk and Keith nodded, while Allura with Coran turned and left.

"Well, get some rest, buddy. I hope we can get this mess figured out."

Hunk gave a smile while Lance nodded. He left to the hangar.

"So, it's just me and you, Mullet."

"You and I."

"Wow, okay grammar police."

Keith looked at him with a blank, slightly confused stare.

"Let's just go," Lance said, exasperated and exhausted, but not just because of Keith's lack of humor.

Keith started walking towards their rooms, and Lance caught up and stayed at his pace. Wow, when prompted, Keith can act fast.

"Thank you for standing up for me back there."

"No problem. Hunk was being too pushy, and I couldn't just let him make you uncomfortable."

Lance smiled, and they showed up at his door.

"Here you are, Lance."

He stepped in and was about to close the door before Keith grabbed the door frame.

"Everything alright, Keith?"

"Yeah, just... Aren't you going to have trouble sleeping?"

"Well, that's a given, Keith."

"I know, but is there anything I can do to help? Anything that you did when you had nightmares back home?"

Lance blushed slightly.

"Well, yes, but it's not something that can be helped."

He went to close the door again until Keith stepped into the doorway.

"I'm sure we can figure out something."

Lance sighed and stepped back a bit, then sat down on the edge of the bed.

"My sister, Veronica, or my brother, Marco, would always sleep next to me when I had a nightmare. It made me feel safe, and protected. But, these aren't nightmares. They're just... Really depressing."

"I mean if me sleeping next to you would help I wouldn't mind. You need sleep, Lance."

Lance's face got even redder.

"Nope, that's not really necessary-what are you doing?"

Keith had walked over to Lance's bed and started to situate himself to lay down next to the wall.

"Laying down?"

"Did I give you permission?"

"Dunno, but that is invalid. I have severe insomnia, and I never thought that sleeping next to someone could help, but because of your previous statement, I think it could. Oh, and this could also help you with your depeams."

"..depeams?"

"Yeah, depressing dreams."

"That sounds like something I would say, Keith."

Lance turned around and locked the door.

"Must be because your idiocracy is passing onto me through your room," Keith called out from Lance's bed.

"Hey! I'm not an idiot!"

Lance stormed over to his bed, glaring daggers into Keith's mirthful eyes.

"Get in, Lance," Keith said as he lifted the sheets up for Lance to lay down, smirking all the while.

Lance blushed as he settled under the covers, then turned his back to Keith.

"Thank you, Lance."

"Why?"

"For letting me sleep here."

"You didn't exactly give me a choice."

"You could've kicked me out."

"That was an option?!"

Keith tittered.

"Just go to sleep Lance."

Lance heard Keith turn and suddenly his breath was on the back of his neck. Lance nearly yelped in surprise, but he realized that Keith's breaths had evened out and he was already asleep. So much for an insomniac.

Lance had started to drift off when Keith dragged him closer to his body and started spooning him. Usually, Lance would completely panic, but he was too tired to care.

Speaking of which, he was knocked out in seconds.

∆

∆

∆

_Lance awoke to the sunshine outside his curtains, and a warm presence in front of him. He kissed the black mat of hair tickling his nose, receiving a groan in return. Lance smirked, getting off the queen bed and walking over to the other side, to kneel down and peck his love on the tip of his nose. He got a giggle from the blanket pile and used that as a sign to keep going. Next, it was his eyelid, cheek, forehead, chin, temple, until finally landing a kiss on his lips. By this time, he was giggling constantly but quietly. When Lance stopped, Keith stopped and opened up his eyes, droopy from sleep, and gave a lazy smile. Boy, Lance was so in love with this man._

∆

∆

∆

Lance sat up so fast he hit his head on the ceiling, causing him to quietly groan before the sadness set in.

_He'd never love you._

He sniffs.

_You're just a stupid, good-for-nothing 7th wheel._

His eyes water.

_Not only are you never going to be with him, but you won't be on Earth either. You should stop hoping it'll happen because it never will._

Tears fall.

_You can easily be replaced. Your family wouldn't care, nor would the universe. You'd just be another casualty. Especially to Keith._

Sobs racked his body.

The strong but unsteady rhythm of his shaking woke Keith.

"Lance?"

His voice was rough from sleep, something that has occurred in Lance's dreams fairly often, but all of those are nothing compared to the real thing.

"Lance, buddy, are you okay?"

_'Buddy'._

Lance cries harder, if that's even possible.

A hand falls on his shoulder.

"Lance... Is it one of those nightmares?"

Lance nods and rubs his nose.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

Lance sighs. Yeah, Keith could help, but that's about a 1 in Quintillion chance. Pidge said that number once and it seemed pretty big, so why not use it for the impossible situation?

"No..."

Keith lets out a sad sigh.

"Alright... Do you want to get Hunk? Or go eat? Maybe you just need a distraction."

Lance let out a humorless laugh, turning to look at Keith.

"What do you care, Keith? Why are you even here?"

Keith takes his hand off of Lance's shoulder, stunned at the words he just said. He then surges forward and hugs him from behind, placing his head where his hand had been just moments before.

"Because I care about you, Lance."

Lance went rigid with the physical contact, and Keith softly let go.

“Sorry… I know you were in a big family and I thought that a hug might help… I won’t touch you again.”

Lance can’t stop a small whimper escaping his closed lips.

“...Lance?”

Lance takes another, long, shaky breath and sits up straight.

“I’m sorry I froze at the contact. I’m… just surprised you touched me at all, to be honest.”

Keith lets out a sigh. 

“I… I don’t touch people often because it kinda... feels weird? I suppose? But when people need it and there’s no one else around I only hesitate slightly.”

Lance turns around and faces Keith, wiping the remains of the tears (When did he stop crying?) off his cheek before giving Keith a questioning look.

“Weird? How?"

Keith blinks a couple of times before slowly attempting to explain.

“Like… it feels so… warm. And… kind of comforting? But like, in a depressing way? I’m not explaining this well.”

Keith sighs and shakes his head. Lance lightly reaches out and places his hand on top of Keiths, which is resting on his crossed legs. He gasps and jumps at the contact before awkwardly shifting and relaxing.

“Keith, I think you’re touch-starved.”

“Touch-starved? Why do I need touch? I’m fine, Lance.”

“Keith, you really aren’t… That explains why you unconsciously cuddled me…”

“I’m sorry, I did _what_?”

“Before I entirely fell asleep you spooned me, and I was too tired to deal with it so I just let it be.”

Keith’s face burns red, and he makes a couple of choking noises.

“Spooned? I don’t know what that is but I still can’t believe I cuddled you… I am so sorry.”

“First of all, it’s fine, and YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT SPOONING IS?”

“No… it sounds like some weird eating method for babies.”

“I can’t believe this.”

Keith sighed and looked at the wall, anything to avoid Lance’s face.

“It’s not really a big deal-”

“NOT A BIG DEAL? Are you kidding me, Keith? My five-year-old niece knows what it is! What kind of terrible people kept you from knowing what spooning is?”

Keith spoke with slight confusion but indifference in his voice.

“Probably the foster-parents and orphanage workers.”

Lance let his jaw drop for a second before breaking out into apologies.

“Wait-shit-I’m sorry… um-fuck…”

Keith tittered a little.

“It’s fine, Lance, I’m used to it.”

“Nobody should be used to something like that!”

“Well, I am.”

Lance let out a sigh and looked down before Keith’s eyes widened and he gasped in realization.

“Holy shit-Lance,” Keith shook Lance’s shoulders and he looked up at Keith with confusion. “I fell asleep.”

Lance looks around a bit in confusion, like the blue lights would have all the answers.

“I haven’t fallen asleep without having to train or do some physical activity since...my dad died. That’s… what, 15 years? No, more. Well, I mean not too much more, but still! I actually slept, Lance!”

Keith had pure joy in his eyes and his smile was so wide that Lance couldn’t help but join him.

“Maybe all I needed was to share a bed with someone…”

Keith looks off to the side, his hands still on Lance’s shoulders before he realizes they’re there and he removes them immediately with a swift, simple apology.

“Lance… actually… um… would you mind if I stayed with you? I mean, you’re having those weird dreams and I can help you with that, and I can finally actually get sleep, so we both benefit from it, and I figured it was a good idea but you can say no-”

“I thought I was the one who rambled, Keith. And…” Lance looks at the pure, unfiltered joy on Keith’s face, and he can’t tell him no. “I guess it wouldn’t be the worst idea.”

“Really?”

Lance smiles at him, the depressing thoughts nagging him at the back of his head.

“Sure.”

Keith relaxes and gives Lance a thankful smile.

“So… do you think you could go back to sleep?”

Lance sighed and looked down.

_‘Not after all that…’_

“I don’t think so.”

“That’s fine… hm… want to see if there’s anything other than food goo in the kitchen?”

Lance smiles and nods his head, before standing up and unlocking the door, then looks back at Keith who is just starting to get off the bed.

“Hey, Keith.”

He looks up at Lance expectantly, and Lance smirks at him.

"Race ya'." 

Lance was already halfway down the hall but heard Keith's echoing voice from behind him.

"That's not fair, Lance!"

•  
•  
•

Keith and Lance were sat down on the couches in the "common room", as it was named shortly after arriving on this crazy adventure. Lance was laying down with a bowl full of pink popcorn-look-alikes, throwing them up and into his mouth, missing occasionally. Every few minutes Keith would reach into the bowl and grab a small handful.

"Hey, Lance?"

Lance hummed in response.

"Do you want to talk about what happened in that nightmare?"

Lance missed his mouth and sat up, spilling a little of the food.

"...what?"

Lance was looking at him with wide eyes, full of fear and worry. 

"You don't have to," Lance visibly relaxed, "I just wanted to know if it could help or not. I know that Shiro finds comfort in writing down his nightmares, and he tells me about them too when writing isn't enough."

Lance nervously smiled.

"Thank you for the offer, but-"

"I think it would be a good idea, Lance."

That was when Keith and Lance noticed the tall, part-metal man standing in the door.

"Well, I mean, I'd really prefer not to-"

"Lance, we have to try every option to see if we can get rid of these dreams," Shiro said, crossing his arms in a true parental gesture. "They're a hazard to your emotional and physical health."

"Fine. But I'm only going to talk to Hunk."

Keith's face turned back to its normal scowl, and Lance missed slightly-happy Keith immediately. 

"Keith, Shiro, it's nothing personal. You're just both in these dreams, everyone here is," Lance's brain supplies him with _'rarely, but Keith is in every one'_, "and the only one I feel comfortable sharing their role in these dreams is Hunk."

Keith's scowl loosens so slightly that Lance almost missed it, and Shiro did. However small the difference, it brightens Lance's mood.

Shiro nods in understanding.

"Plus, Hunk already knows a lot of my secrets, what's a couple more?"

•  
•  
•

Apparently, a lot.

"You WHAT?"

"Shush, Hunk! Keep it down, I don't want the whole universe to know," Lance whisper-shouts.

"B-but… you're bi? A...and K...Keith? When, how?"

Lance let out a huge sigh.

"I didn't want to be rivals with him, but he made that happen. How? He turned down my flirting. Not even politely, all he did was scowl at me and walk away. Y'know, great way to get your crush to like you. So, I chose to be rivals with him. Maybe if I showed him that I was better at something than him, he'd actually want to hang out with me like normal people and we might even be able to go on a date. When I finally thought we were getting somewhere, he left the garrison. I was pissed, and reformed that stupid, broken rivalry when we met up again in hope that he'd pay attention to me and maybe we could get back to where we were. And, oh yeah, I do remember the bonding moment, I just said I didn't so that I could get payback on him not remembering me at the garrison, but holy shit Hunk, he was so cute and hot at the same time somehow, and actually smiled, by the way, his smile is brighter than the fucking sun, and-"

"Yep, I get it, buddy. Wow, you are so whipped."

Lance gasps and puts a hand against his chest in mock offense. 

"How dare you use the cursed word!"

Hunk tilted his head in confusion.

"What, whipped?"

Lance gasped again.

•  
•  
•

"Shiro, what do you think is going on in those dreams that made him not want to tell us? We could help him!"

Shiro sighed for the 5th time that minute. Er, dobash.

"Keith, I'm sure his reasons are-"

"-valid, I know, I know, but I feel so useless sitting here and doing nothing helpful!"

"You're doing everything you can, Keith. We need to wait for Lance to be ready."

Keith let out an exasperated groan and rested his head on the back of the couch.

Pidge walked in, completely focused on the device in front of them, and plopped on the edge of a couch.

"Hey, Pidge," Shiro said, causing them to look up.

"Hey. You guys are early."

"Early?" Keith asked, confusion evident in his voice. 

"Yeah, we're having a team bonding meeting here in a few doboshes."

"Oh."

Allura and Coran both walked in, sharing whispered murmurs with each other, and Hunk with Lance showed up soon after them, and Allura took that as a sign to stand in front of the group.

"You're probably wondering why I've called you here."

"Well, I'm always wondering about you, Princess." Lance ended off with a smirk, click of his tongue, and finger guns.

Hunk let out a short, muffled giggle, causing Lance to give him a death glare, but a serious one. Something you would expect on Keith.

Hunk stopped immediately and the others were concerned but figured it might've been an accident.

Allura let out an agitated, yet still proper, sigh before continuing.

"As I was saying, you're probably wondering why you're all here. Since the new development occurred with Lance, I figured that now is a better time for team-bonding than ever, especially because one of you is emotionally and physically compromised, however slightly."

Lance grumbled to himself.

"Thus, I figured that with Lance having all these dreams, it could be comforting if we all shared one of ours, to make him feel more… belonging."

There were a few nods and hums of agreement, while Lance looked confused and Hunk glanced at Lance, then Keith quickly. Pidge noticed but didn't say anything.

"I will start. Often, my dreams take place in the juniberry fields on Altea, running around with my father and mother. We're always so happy, and we even sometimes just sit back and look up at the sky."

She finished by sitting down, a nostalgic look stuck on her face.

"I will go next," Coran's voice said, and quite a few groans echoed throughout the paladins.

"Often I am back at my position on the castle, tending to Allura and her father."

Silence stayed thick in the air, eventually leading to everyone looking over to Coran.

"Who will go next?"

Hunk decided to speak through the tension.

"In my dreams, I'm in my home, in my kitchen, with my parents and siblings. My Grammy is teaching me new recipes and I, in turn, teach my nieces and nephews how to cook. It's so warm, and happy. It's nice, while it lasts."

After Hunk's release of private information, the others are kind of nervous to go next, for fear their dreams may not hold as much emotional value.

"Well," Shiro starts, breaking the silence, "while mine may not have such happiness, they're dreams nonetheless, even if they're…" he sighs. "Traumatizing. My dreams are made up of the few pieces I can remember while I was in the galran prison facility. A lot of them include me killing other prisoners, or even the amputation of my arm that they didn't bother to put me asleep for. It's just bits and pieces, but they're my dreams."

Everyone is silent now. If they were afraid of not showing enough emotion before, they couldn't do it now.

"I don't have dreams."

Keith interrupted the silence, even him noticing the tense atmosphere. When Shiro gave him a pointed look, he sighed and relented.

"Fine, I had two. That's it, though." When Shiro's eyes remained on him, he continued. "The first one was when I was about… four or five? It was a brief vision of my mom walking out on my father and I, never to return. The second one was when I was eight, and it was a reminder of the day that my dad died. I had to watch him be engulfed by flames as the building collapsed around him again, and I was held back by the other firefighters."

Keith glared at Shiro.

"That good enough for you, Shiro?" He asked.

Shiro shifted uncomfortably.

The room was dead silent.

"Well," Pidge started, a little nervous, "I'm kinda similar to Keith. I don't dream too often, but when I do, it's about my Dad and Matt, sometimes my Mom and Bae Bae. But that's it, it's nothing special." They finished. 

Everyone turned to Lance expectantly.

He crossed his arms and just stared at everyone.

"What? You want me to share my very private emotional turmoil?" He sarcastically asked.

Everyone shifted uncomfortably. 

"Well, here you go. I get to be with my family, joke around with my sister, pull pranks with Marco, help Rachel with her love life, I help my Abuela with cooking with my mom, and I look after my nieces and nephews. I get to be happy, and everything feels warm and safe, but when I wake up, I'm brought to the harsh, cold reality that I may never see them again. That I may die out here and they will remain oblivious to my actions. That I may never get my Mamí's hugs, and I may never race my brother Luis again. That I may never get to go back to Varadero Beach, no matter how much I want to. Is that what you wanted to hear?"

With that, he got off the couch and left the room in anxious silence.

Hunk sighed and started to get up before Keith nearly pushed him back down in his path to follow Lance. Hunk winced in sympathy for his friend, though the others remained confused by his reaction. Though, Pidge thought they might be getting an idea of what was happening. 

∆  
∆  
∆

_Lance ran into his room, Keith right behind him. The door closed, leaving them in absolute silence, the stars in the infinite abyss the only company they had._

_"Are you okay?" Keith asked._

_Lance shook his head as tears started to fall._

_Keith walked over and scooped him up in his arms, as he started to run his fingers through his hair, and occasionally would kiss the top of his head along with the quiet reassurances._

_Once Lance calmed down, he broke the silence again._

_"What happened?"_

_"...everything," Lance responded._

_Keith sighed, understanding._

_"I know that being a paladin of Voltron isn't an easy job, but we wouldn't be here without you, Lance. I wouldn't be here without you. I love you, remember that."_

_Lance sniffled._

_"I love you too."_

_They laid down, before letting their eyelids finally collapse and bring them into an engulfing, warm slumber._

∆  
∆  
∆

"Lance?" Said man heard outside his door. From inside he couldn't tell who it was, but he assumed it was Hunk after his confessions to him. He opened the door and was stunned at the fact that the man outside the door was not Hunk.

"Keith?" He asked, worried and scared at the same time.

Keith smiled nervously.

"Hey… I just wanted to know if you're okay. You kinda left in a rush after that."

Lance sighed, before attempting to close the door, yet Keith stopped the door with his foot. Lance glared at him.

"Look, I know I'm probably not your preferred choice, but I'm here, okay?" Keith said, an offer for conversation. "I just want you to know that you don't have to keep it all to yourself."

Lance sighed, before letting Keith in and sitting down on his bed, Keith following right after.

"I can't elaborate much, you know," Lance said.

Keith nodded, allowing Lance to continue.

"It's just…" He sighed. "Everyone is pressuring me to tell them about these dreams that are my own, private affairs. It doesn't… it isn't a great thing to go through. I get that they have pure intentions, just that… well, they aren't always the most thoughtful bunch, you know?" Lance softly laughed and looked to Keith.

He nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I understand. They try to do their best, but sometimes it just isn't enough, or in this case, too much."

They fell into a comfortable silence, before Keith took in a deep breath. 

"You know that you can talk to us, even if it's really vague, right?"

Lance nodded, causing Keith to smile. A blush spread across Lance's cheekbones, and he turned to keep it hidden.

"Thank you, Keith. That means a lot, to know that you care."

He heard a soft giggle echo around the room.

"Anytime, Lance."

"These dreams are nice, you know."

Keith stayed silent, urging him to continue.

"While they last, at least. I know I made it sound really depressing earlier, but they feel so… real, even if this poison or whatever is making sure I know that it isn't. But… well, it's nice to see my family again, even if it's just a figment of my imagination and they don't show up too often."

Keith furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Your family isn't at the center of your dreams?"

Lance took in a sharp breath.

"No, they aren't."

Keith was cautious with his next words.

"...then what is?"

Lance looks at the ground.

"I… don't want to tell you that."

When Lance peeked out of the corner of his eye, he saw Keith looking dejected, his eyes on the door.

"Just know you can, alright?"

Lance hummed in affirmation, too caught up in the beauty of Keith to use actual words. When Keith turned to him and caught him staring, they both turned away and blushed.

If Pidge were here, and knew about Lance's crush on Keith, she'd be screaming for them to 'just kiss, already', but Lance knows Keith wouldn't agree. If Keith didn't respond well to his flirting back at the Garrison, it's obvious he's either straight (which Lance nearly laughs at, because with that jacket? Yeah, right) or Lance isn't his type. He assumes the latter.

After all, he's just a guy from Cuba. He's no strong superstar that is the embodiment of the garrison, he's not a guy who can bake anything and can give the best hugs, and he's most definitely not someone who could ever be Keith's type. He doesn't have a 'thing' he's good at, and that's why it wouldn't matter if he died. It's obvious that when they have to kick someone off the team, they'll go right to him because that is going to happen eventually, no doubt. He'll just be chucked to the side like an empty can of soda.

"-nce?"

Lance snaps out of his stupor when Keith waves a hand in front of his face and rests the other one on his shoulder. 

"Huh?" He asks eloquently. 

Keith sighs in relief at catching his attention.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah, of course, dude, why?"

Keith looks at him, concerned (and Lance internally laughs, because why would he concerned about him?).

"You're crying."

And, oh, yep, he's crying. When he reaches his hand up, he feels the tears falling down his face. _("Weak", his brain tells him.)_

"Oh, sorry."

Lance harshly rubs them away, and Keith kneels down on the floor in front of him.

"Don't be sorry, Lance. I just want to know what you're upset about."

Lance sighs, a few more tears falling.

"It's… it's nothing, Keith. You don't have to worry."

It's obvious that Keith does not believe him.

"Lance, it isn't nothing. I know that you probably would rather it be anyone else here right now, specifically Hunk, but I am here. And I care, a lot. I want you to be okay, Lance. I know that this… poison, or whatever, has thrown a wrench in your daily routine, but that doesn't mean you can't talk about it."

Lance sighs and shakes his head.

"Keith, I don't think you understand what you're talking about."

Obvious frustration gleams in Keith's eyes.

"Then let me understand."

Lance just stares at him, but now his tears have stopped falling.

While Keith is upset he can't do anything more, at least he stopped Lance's crying. He hates to see Lance cry.

Keith sighs and stands up.

"I'll leave you alone."

He walks out, and Lance almost stops him.

Keyword: almost.

Lance knows Keith is lying, that he doesn't care at all. Why would he?

He lays back, resting his hands on his stomach.

After a while, his eyes close and he falls into a restless sleep.

∆  
∆  
∆

_Lance dances around the counter in his kitchen, swaying his hips to the beat of a Spanish song on the radio. He hums along as he makes omelettes and bacon for two. That's when he hears a groan in the doorway._

_Looking over, Lance sees the most beautiful sight he could ever imagine._

_Keith is wearing one of his hoodies, but since their body types are so different, the clothing falls halfway down his thighs and covers his hands. He yawns and covers his mouth with one of his sweater paws, and that's when Lance notices his atrocious yet adorable bedhead. He smiles softly at his gorgeous Fiancé, feeling blessed that a man like him could ever love a guy like Lance._

_Keith walks up to the kitchen table and pulls out a chair before slumping down in it, obviously still half asleep. Ever since he and Lance started sleeping together (no not in _that_ way, brain, stop), Keith had been sleeping well enough that he sometimes overslept._

_Lance smiled softly before turning off the burner and placing the omelettes and bacon on two plates. He turns around and sets one in front of Keith before sitting in the chair opposite him and sips the coffee that was already there._

_Keith, seeing his lack of coffee, glares at Lance. However, when Lance points to the coffee pot and Keith sees the coffee sitting there, still steaming, he instantly forgives him and gets up._

_Once he sits back down, they start talking about such trivial things that you would've never guessed they were the soldiers that were at the frontline of a war just five years ago._

∆  
∆  
∆

Lance wakes to knocking on his door and tears falling down his cheeks. After furiously wiping at them, he clears his throat and opens the door. To his shock, it's not Keith there.

"Hey, buddy," Hunk says. "I hope you're feeling better. Sorry I didn't come in earlier, Keith literally pushed me."

Lance's eyes widen and he steps back to let Hunk in, which he accepts with a hesitant yet bright smile.

When the door slides shut behind him, Lance breaks out onto a rant.

"You will not believe the dream I just had. It was so domestic, I just…" Lance hesitates, warily looking at Hunk. When he gives a sympathetic smile, that just reeks with a 'you can talk to me' vibe, he continues. "I wish it was real. The worst part is, our personalities stayed the same. He glared at me, Hunk! Just like he does now, except with affection. But… all I see behind his glare is hate."

When Lance stopped in thought, Hunk filled the silence. 

"Look, buddy, are you sure it's unrequited?" He asks.

Lance glares at him, heat behind it that had only been there once before.

"Don't, Hunk. You and I both know he could never like me, I'm not even his type."

Hunk just frowns.

"Actually, I want to make a bet. Hunk? I'm sure that right now he's thinking about some hot, buff, and rugged guy that he would just love to be in a relationship with."

Hunk just keeps frowning.

•  
•  
•

Keith, in fact, was actually thinking about Lance. And maybe that's why, when somebody knocked on his door, he said…

"Hey, La-...Pidge. Hey. What's up?"

Pidge raised an eyebrow and smirked before pushing herself in and putting on silent mode. When Keith went to question it, she gave him a look that made him close his mouth. 

With a smug smile, she scared Keith shitless.

"You have a crush on Lance, don't you?"

"What?!" He yelped, stunned and scared it was obvious.

Pidge waved their hand.

"Don't worry, it's not obvious," He visibly deflated, "I only realized it today. No one pushes Hunk, man. No one."

Keith blushes and looks off to the side, causing Pidge to laugh.

"Oh my god, you are such a dork, man. You two are, like, perfect for each other."

Keith's eyes widened.

"Wha-Don-Pi-Stop-...it-but… I-uhm…" he trailed off, looking to the ceiling, anywhere Pidge was not.

Pidge howled in laughter.

"Oh my god, this is precious! Anyways, it's time to go, so get your suit on."

Keith stared at her, the flush on his cheeks disappearing slowly.

"Go where?"

She arched an eyebrow.

"Dlheu? Remember, we're getting a sample of the flower? We need everyone's help to find it."

Keith sighed and punched the bridge of his nose.

"Why doesn't anyone tell me any of these things?"

Pidge honest-to-God snorted at this.

"We did, I think you were too distracted by Lance to hear us, though. You were staring at him the whole time!"

Keith looks at her, confused, and she let's out a giant sigh in resignation.

"Fine, we didn't tell you. I thought Shiro would've, though."

She shook her head before leaving the room.

"We're departing in five minutes!" She yelled, before the door closed.


	2. These Boys are F*cked

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Keith makes a 'That's What She Said' joke, Pidge can't stop laughing, and everyone else is confused, though for a few it gets cleared up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heyo, back with another part! I'm thinking that I'm just gonna post on the 6th consistently no matter the size of what was written but we'll see.
> 
> Little tip on the timeline: Last chapter had the timeframe of about 5 days. This'll be important but...
> 
> Just saying that a few days with a ton of sleep can _fuck you up_. So don't yell at me, please!
> 
> Okay so I bleeped out fucked in the chapter title because I felt like it. I feel like the chapter titles should be clean for some reason lol.
> 
> My parents will and should never read this.
> 
> Oh! One more thing. I do keep referring to Pidge as they/them pronouns but when I'm tired I miss things and there may be some she/her pronouns in there. I just fixed the whole beginning but there may still be some pronoun errors in there. I usually go in between they/them pronouns and she/her pronouns for Pidge, and sometimes my brain forgets what pronouns I'm using, haha.

"Let's go to the planet again, they said," Keith drawled. "It'll help, they said."

"C'mon, man", Lance interjected. "You said you didn't breath it in, right?"

What Keith didn't breath in, exactly, was… well…

_Keith looked around, trying to spot the flower of the hour. When he caught sight of purple, red, and blue, he got closer to it, making sure to stay a decent distance away._

_He looked over to Lance, before calling out to him._

_"Hey Lance," he looked over. "is this the flower you inhaled?"_

_When Lance went to nod his head, the unexpected happened._

_Yellow._

_Everywhere._

Keith sighed and shook his head.

"I mean, I did, but how do I know that prevented me from inhaling the pollen?" He looked over to Pidge. "Speaking of which…"

They raised an eyebrow.

"Why did the flower spit out pollen at me?"

Pidge adjusted their glasses before speaking.

"As you may notice, there aren't any bees around here. Thus, whenever the plant senses movement, it spits out pollen for the animal to pass on to other flowers. Kind of like a venus fly-trap, except it's not for food but reproduction."

Keith nodded hesitantly.

"And why does it cause the dreams Lance is experiencing?"

Pidge looked into the jar full of different parts of the plant. It was easier for them since they modified their free-go filter (what they learned to call the filter that goes on with their suits when the air is breathable) so that pollens and other possible pollutants wouldn't get in their system. They've been working on Hunk's, but all their suits are a little different, and thus they have had to re-learn the system for each one.

"I have to observe it more closely at the lab, but my hypothesis is that the… dream pollen is meant as a defense mechanism. If a plant caused you terrible dreams, you wouldn't want to get near it again, would you?"

Keith softly nodded. He really wanted to get off this planet.

Suddenly an arm was placed around his shoulders and Lance started talking.

"Well, I'm sure you didn't breathe it in, but even if you did, at least you don't have to deal with it alone!" He said with a smile.

Keith looked to the side and blushed before nodding.

∆  
∆  
∆

...nothing.

∆  
∆  
∆

Keith took a deep breath as he sat upright in bed.

After they returned from the planet, the team agreed that they needed their rest and called it a night.

Right now, Keith was in Lance's room. 

"...hmmmm?" Lance mumbled, waking up. When he saw Keith's wide eyes, he sat up and looked at him, sleep already out of his grasp. "What's going on?"

Keith looked over to him before shaking his head.

"Nothing. I just… woke up all of a sudden."

Lance's eyes squinted, scrutinizing Keith.

"Are you feeling sad right now?"

Keith looked up at him, confused.

"What?"

"Just answer the question."

"I mean, a little, I suppose."

You could hear a pin drop.

"If it happens again, tell me. Hopefully this is just some fluke." Lance said, before turning and laying down again.

"Huh?" Keith questioned.

"I didn't start having the dreams right away. Before everything really picked up, I'd wake up in the middle of the night feeling depressed. I didn't know what was happening, but I figured I was just waking up from sad dreams. When I started remembering bits and pieces, I thought it was weird that it was happening but we weren't warned of anything recently so I figured it was just some homesickness getting to me." He laughed humorlessly. "Yeah, guess I was wrong."

When Lance looked over to Keith, he saw his face was extremely pale (or at least, paler than usual).

"What?"

"Are you trying to tell me that I have the same poison you do?"

Lance shrugged.

"I dunno, man. It might be a subconscious thing that you're scared that you have it, so you're brain is tricking you into thinking that you do have the poison. Like I said, I'm not sure. This might be a one-time thing, but if it happens again, don't be afraid to wake me up and tell me."

Keith nodded, and Lance relaxed again before falling asleep.

A few minutes later, Keith joined him.

•  
•  
•

The next morning, when Lance walked into the dining room, he was met by a dour expression on both Pidge and Hunk's faces. Once he sat down, he started a conversation, a need to know what was going on pushing him forward.

"Good mornin', how'd you sleep?" Lance asked with a smile, already knowing the answer.

Hunk grunted and Pidge's head slammed on their keyboard before they sat up, ramrod straight and yelled "I'm awake!", startling a few at the table.

Lance sighed and shook his head.

"Pidge?"

They didn't look up.

"Pidgeotto? Pigeon? Pidgey?" Lance continued pestering.

A few seconds after the last one was said, they snapped their head up and looked at Lance with wide eyes. Somehow, even with their eyes nearly bulging out of their head, dark bags were still visible underneath their eyes. Lance shot them an austere look.

"Did you sleep at all?"

Pidge stared at him for a moment before shaking their head.

Lance sighed, exasperated. 

"Why?"

"B-because!" They throw up their arms in a rueful way. "If you can't sleep, it could compromise the team!"

"That's called being a hypocrite, Pidge," Shiro called out from the other side of the table. Pidge squawks in indignation. 

"I can handle it!"

Lance titters.

"Pidge, you're practically hysterical," Lance says, lifting up a hand and resting his cheek upon it. "You should go sleep. At least take a nap before we start training."

"Speaking of which-" Allura starts off, but is interrupted by an exhausted Keith stumbling into the room. Everyone intermittently looks to Keith as he plops down in his seat next to Lance.

The team is silent for a moment, a privy conversation to decide who would bring it up. Everyone except Lance, Pidge notices. 

"You look like shit," Pidge says to Keith. 

"You look worse," Keith groused. 

"True," Pidge countered, "but I'm not the one who was sprayed in the face by a flower that is proven to cause sleeping problems. So…" They adjust in their seat. "What happened?"

"Nothing."

They raise an eyebrow.

"Fine, something. I was nervous I did breath it in and didn't sleep well because of it. I feel rested enough, though."

Lance shoots Keith a look, and Keith side-eyed him a glare. Lance would bring it up later.

"So, team Punk, any progress?" Lance asks, ignoring the Keith problem for the moment.

"Not really," Hunk said, interrupting his heretofore silence. "Last night was mostly us looking into the biological properties of the plant. Pidge was also working on my suit filter so that I could look at it without glass or some other property holding the pollen in. It could massively increase our cure-finding time, but Pidge…" he looks to her. "I think you can see why I'm concerned."

Pidge scowls at Hunk, and he winces in a silent apology.

"Okie dokie then," Lance says, not quite knowing what took them so long, but figuring they had a valid, too-sciency-for-him-to-understand reason.

A silence falls across the table, and it stays there for a few dobashes before Allura speaks up again.

"Right, I nearly forgot," She says, slightly startling the team. "We are going to stop by a planet in the 1143-KR system to attempt an alliance, but in order to get there, we need to go through some Galra-Infested areas." The paladins groan. "I know that we are all very tired and stressed, but the Galra won't stop because we don't feel like fighting."

Collective sighs fall around the table.

"But," Allura continues. "Because of this, I decided that you all could go a day without training," cheers fill the room. "since we may have to fight the Empire, and being tired from training beforehand could result in us taking some heavy fire."

•  
•  
•

Allura wasn't kidding when she said the area was Galra infested. Within the first varga of their trip, a klaxon rings throughout the ship, calling the paladins to arms. 

Immediately, Lance can tell they're off their game.

Pidge keeps getting interrupted in their scanning because of constant yawns, and Keith's reaction time is slower than normal. Even with Lance's teasing _(C'mon, Mullet, I bet I can take out more ships than you!)_ and Hunks help, they're still getting their asses kicked.

"We should form Voltron," Keith calls out, just as he dodges an ion cannon blast. 

"I agree," Lance calls out, and Hunk hums his agreement. 

"That might be our best option," Shiro says. "Team, form Voltron."

The lions collectively leave their posts and line up before forming Voltron, and a few ships scatter with its appearance alone. Hunk summons their cannon and takes out the main battle ship, and with that, it's easy to take out the few stragglers that remain and the battle is over.

They all detransform with relieved sighs and head back to the castle, ambient chatter filling the silence.

"That seemed harder than normal," Lance mumbles.

"That's what she said," Keith calls out before laughing hysterically.

The team is silent in alarm before they hear a thud.

"Keith?"  
"Buddy?"  
"Mullet?"  
"What happened?"

When the line stays silent on Keith's end, they all remain silent as well. Because of this, they startled when Red zooms right past them and docks on the castle within a few seconds.

They speed up too.

Lance is the first to dock, and being the closest to Red's hangar, gets to Keith first. Red lets him in immediately, and that increases Lance's concern. As soon as he steps in, Red's particle barrier goes up, blocking out Pidge as they were about to step up and join Lance. They shoot each other confused glances before Lance makes his way to the head of the lion. When Lance steps in, he sees Keith's head on top of the dash, drool dripping out of his mouth. Lance would've appreciated how endearing it was if the scenario was better.

"Keith?" Lance calls out as he shakes Keith's sleeping form. He wakes up immediately and activates his bayard, nearly slicing Lance's head off. "Jeez, man! Watch where you're pointing that thing!" Keith immediately deactivates it and stares at Lance in confused alarm.

"What? What happened?"

"That's what I wanted to ask you. We just finished the battle and you made a 'that's what she said' joke worthy of Michael and passed out."

Keith shoots him a confused look.

"Michael?"

Lance groans and facepalms.

"Just, ignore it for now. What happened?"

"Well…" Keith starts, looking out the window before he becomes befuddled again. "Why is Reds' barrier up?"

Lance looks outside to see what he was looking at and hums in acknowledgement. 

"That'd be nice to know too, it kept Pidge out but not me."

Keith seems to come to a realization and pats Reds' dash and seems to whisper thanks before he turns to Lance.

"Okay, so I have a single answer that will explain everything but you're gonna be pissed at me."

Lance arches an eyebrow at him.

"About a half hour after I woke you up the first time I woke up again, with repeat symptoms."

Lance gives him an unimpressed look.

"I told you to wake me up, Keith," Lance grumbles.

"I know," Keith responded. "I just didn't want any pity or whatever from anyone. But, if someone has to know, I guess the best option is you since you're experiencing the same thing. I just…" Keith sighs. "I've seen the looks the team have been sending you. I know that if I told them I was experiencing the same thing, I'd be faced with a similar reaction," Keith looks out the window. "Please don't tell the team."

Lance takes in a deep breath. _'What should I do? If I don't tell the team, I'll get something to bond with Keith over and he'll think better of me, but if I do, he'll be mad at me, but the team will be able to help him.'_ Lance internally sighs and runs a hand through his hair. _'I mean the team will have to know eventually anyways if he's going to get the antidote but… they don't have to know right now.'_

"I won't tell them, on one condition."

Keith looks at him warily.

"As soon as we're close to an antidote, we tell them."

Keith seems to mull it _('hah, mull it, like mullet', Lance thinks)_ over for a second before nodding.

"I can agree to that."

They nod in silence for a second before Lance stands up straight.

"What are we going to tell the team for now, though, dude?" Lance asks. "The entire team heard you make that joke and pass out. You're going to need an excuse for being delirious and lacking sleep. Though, they could be hand in hand. I mean, I know you mentioned the whole fear-of-poison thing this morning but we know you well enough that it's not gonna pass by this time."

"Shit."

Lance nods in agreement.

Keith seems to stare off into space for a minute before speaking.

"Do you think they could believe that me sharing a bed with you has led me to oversleep and thus makes me really tired?" Keith asks as he faces Lance again.

"Yeah, they'll believe it, but I doubt they'll think it's purely platonic."

Keith nods in thought before-

"Pidge, come into Red please."

The second the barrier falls down they're running.

Lance squawks out before turning to Keith.

"What the fuck?"

"You'll see."

Pidge comes running in and stops as soon as they see that Keith is fully conscious and absolutely fine.

"Uh?"

"Pidge. Lance and I have been sharing a bed to help both of us sleep, 'cause I have insomnia and he has the pollen thing. I passed out because I overslept but that doesn't matter right now, just, what is your automatic assumption of our relationship?"

Pidge blinks owlishly at them.

"Should I account in our conversa-"

"No. Just, like, if you were one of the others, what would you assume?"

Lance is looking between the two, very confused and he keeps mumbling 'what the fuck' over and over under his breath.

Pidge lets out a sigh and looks up in thought while tapping their chin before they speak.

"I'd automatically assume you're dating."

"And if we told you it was truly platonic?"

"Still would assume it's romantic."

"Okay, so what do you think that would have as a result?"

Pidge pinches the bridge of their nose.

"I'm still exhausted so this might be wrong, but I think they'd put you through every test to try and get you to admit you're dating."

Keith and Lance lock eyes, one very solemn and the other baffled.

"So do you think our best option would be to fake date?"

Lance lets out a squeak and blushes, even more confused than before.

Pidge looks between the two of them before maintaining eye contact with Keith for a few moments.

"Probably. But they will find out eventually and they won't be happy."

Keith looks over to Lance.

"What do you think?"

"What the fuck?!" Lance yells out, eyes wide.

Keith rolls his eyes.

"I know it isn't the best scenario, but would you like the team up our asses trying to get us to admit we're dating?"

Lance looks down.

"Um…" He then looks up again and locks eyes with the green paladin. "Pidge, Pidgey Pidge-Podge." They roll their eyes.

"What?"

"You're smart, you should be able to find at least one alternative, right?"

Pidge raises an eyebrow in question at him.

"I have a single brain cell right now, dude. The rest of them are working with the pollen problem or are asleep, so I'm about as smart as you right now-" "Hey!" "-and thus, Keith's idea seems the best at the moment."

Lance stares at them, then Keith, then back and forth a couple more times before groaning and slapping a hand to his face.

"Fine."

Keith whoops with joy and Pidge takes in a deep breath. The more stoic of the two reaches over and hugs Lance, earning him a look from Pidge, causing him to back up immediately and pat on Lance's chest a few times. Keith clears his throat.

"Thanks, Lance."

Lance's eyes suddenly widen in alarm.

"Fuck."

Pidge and Keith exchange eye contact to find the other is equally confused and turn back to Lance in question.

"This ruse isn't going to last long with Hunk. I know it will hold up for a day or two but…" Lance trails off and looks at the two.

"Well," Keith says. "I don't think Hunk knowing will be too terrible. He already knows literally everything else about you and you obviously trust him but," Keith sighs and looks up at Lance. "But what about the whole… 'they'll pressure us into telling them we're dating'?"

Lance looks out the window at Hunk before turning back to Keith.

"We'll tell him we're dating with the rest of the team, but once I get him in private I'll tell him we're not actually dating."

"Okay, but isn't he the one we're worried about with the whole… 'force us to admit we're dating' thing?" Keith asks.

"Actually," Pidge starts, "Allura is a gossip hog. She found out I was… not a boy from the mice and she is NOT subtle about getting someone to admit something. Shiro, as I've seen, while he is serious most of the time, does let loose. With Keith and him being close, he will be relentless with his 'dad looks' and shit. Coran is rather eccentric, but he does know his way around gossip. He will just say you're dating outright no matter what you tell him."

Lance and Keith lock eyes.

"That settles it, then," Lance says. "We're gonna tell the team we're dating."

•  
•  
•

They didn't get the chance to.

When the small group walked out of Red, the team did indeed swarm them, but they only seemed to care about Keith's well being, not what happened. Of course the group found it odd, and after the team left Keith made sure the announcer wasn't on (it wasn't), but it turned out pretty okay.

Until Keith was confronted by Shiro, Hunk, Allura, and Coran.

"So…" Allura drawled from the front of the dinner table. Keith, Pidge, and Lance quickly exchanged eye contact before looking to her.

She innocently props her head on her hands and locks eyes with Keith.

"What happened earlier, Keith?"

Keith looked to his right and Lance nudged him in an encouraging way when he locked gazes with Keith out of the corner of his eye.

Keith decided he was going to give them the toughest time in existence. 

"I passed out."

Allura's facade momentarily dropped before pushing back to the surface. 

"And how did that occur?"

"I overslept."

Allura frowns, knowing that that's the best she can do for the moment.

"How?" Shiro asked, and Keith internally swore. Shiro knows how terrible of a sleeper he is from personal experience at the Garrison.

"I guess I didn't set my alarm right."

"I know you have insomnia, Keith. How did you manage to get past it and oversleep?"

"I shared a bed."

Hunk and Allura's silverware drop on the table in mild confusion while Shiro contorts his face into an odd look.

"With who, may I ask?" Coran asks, seeing his fellow comrades are out of commission. 

"You may not ask." Keith said.

Hunk looks at Keith and Lance slowly before it seems to dawn on him. Keith wouldn't share a bed with Pidge or Allura, he obviously didn't share a bed with Hunk, Coran asked the question and Shiro has PTSD and sleeping next to him would be a nightmare in itself. 

"It was Lance, wasn't it."

The reasoning seems to dawn on the rest of the information diggers and they all snap their heads to Lance, who is calmly eating his food.

"Yep." Lance said in between bites, keeping it simple since he caught onto Keith's tactic.

Everyone's eyes (except the Know Group [Pidge, Keith, and Lance]) went wide.

"Holy shit!" Hunk cried out and Lance looked up at him in innocent confusion and surprise.

"You okay, buddy? You never swear."

Hunk's mouth remained open, gaping like a fish. The others of the Oblivious Group (Allura, Coran, and Shiro) weren't in much better shape. Shiro kept blinking rapidly, and at this point, you'd think there was a twig in his eye with how harshly his eyes were fluttering. Allura's proper demeanor was entirely dropped, the food goo she had yet to swallow obvious in her open lips. Coran's face was entirely blank, representing a windows error screen. 

Pidge was trying to stop themself from laughing at the shocked faces at the table. Keith and Lance's faces were carefully blank, and when they made eye contact, they knew they were going to laugh their asses off together later.

"What?!" Allura squawked out. 

"I said yep," Lance responded, and Keith let's loose a giggle on accident. Lance has to prevent himself from cooing because it's so adorable.

"Is this…" Shiro starts, motioning between the two. "A thing?"

Lance and Keith make eye contact for a second before looking back to Shiro.

"Yes, we are sleeping next to each other."

Pidge let out a cackle at that line.

"I think what number 1 meant to ask is if you were courting!" Coran said, pouring more of a liquid into his glass. Lance assumed it was the equivalent of tea.

Pidge's laughter ceased suddenly, and she looked at them in anticipation to see if they would perform the cliché rom-com plot device.

Keith and Lance made eye contact and Lance tapped on Keith's thigh to count down.

_3…_

"Well…"

_2…_

They looked out to the team.

_1._

"Yes," Keith and Lance said as a single entity.

Pidge's cackles could be heard from outside the castle, perhaps even another solar system, despite the lack of sound allowed by physics and other scientific things Lance couldn't think up.

Hunk slammed his head on the table (which caused Lance to laugh), Shiro kept stuttering incoherently, Coran was smiling like a proud uncle, and Allura was smirking mischievously. 

"So…" Allura drawled, not too far different from how this mess started. "How did this come to be?"

Keith and Lance froze, and Pidge's cackling grew somehow louder. They completely grazed over the 'how did you get together' questions, so it looks like they were going to make it up as they went along. At least they were both here for it, that way the other knows exactly what was told and can stick to it.

They both unknowingly came to the same conclusion: They would have to tell the truth about their crushes. Shiro knew Keith too well, knew he had been acting off around Lance. If Lance said anything too off kilter, Hunk would yell out about it immediately. But hey, the other wouldn't know it was the truth.

"Well…" Lance started, secretly telling Keith to stay silent and listen with a tap on the back of his hand. "I've had a crush on Keith for a while. Since the Garrison, actually. But only recently was it brought to light…" Lance trailed off and stared at Keith.

"Yeah," Keith started, seeing it was his turn to talk. "After Allura told me to look after Lance that one day, I practically-" 

"Literally," Lance interjected causing Keith to scowl slightly.

"-forced myself into his room," Keith continued, as if nothing happened. "When he told me he used to sleep next to his siblings when he had nightmares, I laid down with him. When we woke up…" Keith trailed off, his inspiration dwindling. 

"We were cuddling. Apparently this guy," Lance said, nudging Keith. "Is an unconscious cuddler." Lance laughed a little. "When we came to, he started panicking a little in confusion before he stopped and went 'oh my god, I slept.' Wait, nope, that was in the middle of the night, not when we woke up in the morning, sorry."

Keith sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Actually, he came and got me up later. About 0900, if I remember correctly. Usually if I get to sleep that night, I'm lucky if I get to sleep to 0600. When I told him that, he was surprised but happy for me." Keith gives a soft smile. Lance found it extremely convincing, he never wants to have Keith lie to him because he won't know about it. "This continued, but after I passed out in Red today, I told him how I felt and apologized for using him and…"

"I told him that I like him too."

Hunk coos. 

"That's so adorable, guys!" 

Hunk ran over to Keith and Lance and gathered them into a hug, which the rest of the team joined in on. Once the story was told, Pidge stopped laughing, and the weird reaction from them was forgotten.

∆  
∆  
∆

_Laughter. Whos', Keith can't place his finger on it. But it's what he hears. He only remembers a faint part before it fades completely_

∆  
∆  
∆

Keith takes in a deep breath as he sits up suddenly, woken from his nap. He's in the common room, and Pidge is sat across from him. Hunk is in the corner of the room and seems to be doing something with the door mechanism and Lance… well, Keith's head is in Lance's lap and the blue paladin is running fingers through his hair. When he woke up, his head smacks Lance's hand away and he puts down the tablet he was reading to look at Keith.

"Keith, Babe? Are you okay?"

Keith is confused for a second before he remembers that Hunk is in the corner of the room and Lance is a romantic. Of _course_ Lance would use pet names.

"Yeah," Keith says, slightly breathless. "J-just… can I talk to you? Alone?" He asks.

Lance's face contorts in confusion before he gets up and beckons Keith to follow. Once they're safely out of earshot from the other Paladins, Keith starts talking.

"I had one of those dreams. I can't remember exactly what happened now, but I know that it was happy. Or, funny? I'm not sure."

Lance takes in a deep breath before letting out a sigh.

"That means the poison is progressing. Sadly, it's only going to get worse from now on."

Keith lets out a frustrated groan, irritated in his lack of control.

"Are you serious?"

Suddenly, they both hear a crash and turned around to find that Hunk had ran right into the hallway wall.

"Uh…?" Lance trails off in question.

"Sorry about that, guys. I'm trying to understand how quick the sensors are for the door, so I decided to run into it and… well, I think you can infer what happened from there."

Lance and Keith make eye contact before bursting out laughing. After having such a stressful (yet short) conversation, they're happy for the comic relief. 

"Actually…" Hunk says, dusting off his slacks. "I wanted to talk to you two, anyways," He continues, a malicious smirk falling across his face.

"YOU KNOW WHAT HUNK," Lance suddenly yells out, startling Keith and Hunk. "How about we talk alone for a minute before that, huh?"

Hunk confusedly looks at Lance, then Keith to find that he's equally baffled, before nodding hesitantly and following Lance into a side room. Once Lance is sure that Keith is out of ear shot, he looks over to Hunk and finally blurts out what he had been nervous about since the beginning. 

"We're not actually dating."

"...what?" Hunk asks, understandably confused.

"Keith and I, we're not actually dating. We are sharing a bed, but it's purely platonic since it's a symbiotic relationship. We just… aren't dating. We knew that if we told the truth from the beginning, no one would believe us and would pester us to admit we're dating when we're really not. So, don't tell him anything embarrassing like what I told you the other day, it'd be… awkward."

"Why don't you guys just… actually date?" Hunk questions.

"Hunk!" Lance squawks. "Are you kidding me? You and I both know that Keith doesn't like me!" Lance whisper-yells.

"Then why did he agree to fake date you?"

"Hunk, do you know how terrible it was for Pidge when everyone started to find out they weren't a boy? They were endlessly pestered by a large population of the team. We'd get constant 'dad looks' from Shiro, and Allura would keep trying to 'subtly' get us to admit we are dating. Coran, well, Coran would just ignore us saying it's platonic and go right to calling us a couple despite us, y'know, not actually dating. Pidge told us all this, actually."

"Wait, so when Pidge was summoned into the lion…"

Lance nods.

"Pidge knows," Lance said. "We used them as a test subject. We basically told them the whole bed sharing thing and asked them what they would think of our relationship and-actually." Lance looked up at Hunk. "They said something that I need to question them about. How about we go back to the common room and we can ask them?"

Hunk frowned at his lack of a finished story, but nodded anyways.

When they stepped out of the room, they walked a little ways and ran into Keith, who was impatiently waiting by leaning against the wall in a casual position that Lance was jealous of. When he saw them approach he immediately pushed himself off the wall and raised a questioning eyebrow at Lance.

"C'mon," Lance said, beckoning Keith to follow him. 

Keith reluctantly followed him into the room, and Lance lead him to the left side of the couch by hand. Once they were all situated, Lance started speaking.

"So, Hunk knows."

Pidge shot a questioning eyebrow to him before looking at Hunk to see him smiling shyly and shrugged.

"Okay, and?" Keith questioned.

"And I have a question for you and Pidge. What 'conversation' did you not account for when you asked Pidge to tell us their thoughts on our bedsharing?"

Keith immediately stiffened and looked at Pidge in alarm to see them in a slightly better state.

"Okay, so me and Keith had a talk about insomnia. That's it, though."

Keith immediately relaxed with Pidge's perfect excuse.

"Oh." Lance blinked.

"Wait," Hunk called out suddenly. "That's why Pidge was laughing! Because you weren't actually-" Hunk pauses for a second, looks around, and lowers his voice before repeating and continuing. "Because you weren't actually dating!"

Pidge laughed.

"Oh my god, that was priceless, man! Your reactions were absolutely hilarious!"

Hunk made an exaggerated pout before straightening up again.

"Okay, so is everyone who knows in this room right now?"

"Yep," Lance responded, "We're the Know Group." After a few seconds he whispered "TM".

Keith let out a short giggle. 

"Lance, what the fuck?"

Lance then gave Keith a concerned glance.

"Do you need more sleep?"

"What?" Keith looked at him for a second before it clicked. "Oh, oh. No. I'm fine, after that nap I feel rested enough, just… really? 'TM?' Isn't that like, something that 13-year-olds did a while back?"

Lance squawked out.

"Never underestimate the immortality of a meme, Keith!"

Everyone but Lance burst out laughing at that, and Lance had to let his irritation to fall away for a moment because… wow.

Lance had seen Keith laugh before. He's positive of that, just normally they were passing giggles, maybe the occasional full body laugh for a few seconds before he'd calm back down to business but… wow. That's all Lance can think right now, because Keith looked gorgeous when laughing. His eyes were crinkled at the tips, tears from laughing too hard littering his eyelashes. His nose had this adorable scrunch just between his eyes, complimenting his eyebrows. His smile could rival an angels', and it was absolutely breathtaking, indescribable. Lance could write an entire book about how seeing such a stoic person laugh so heartily, dimples gracing his cheeks, could be so beautiful, and it still wouldn't even scratch the surface of how amazing it was.

When Keith started to calm down Lance immediately looked the other way and blushed, seeing Hunk raise a humored eyebrow at him. Lance pouted at him.

"You're such a child, Lance," Keith said.

"I take giant offense to that."

"Never change."

"Get a room," Pidge interrupted, causing the boys to squawk and blush. Hunk hid his laughter behind his hand.

"So…" Hunk says once they all calm down. "What exactly happened? Lance didn't finish explaining earlier."

•  
•  
•

Allura was chatting with Shiro, soft smiles gracing her face, as they talked about Keith and Lance.

"It's about time," Shiro said. "I've watched him hopelessly pine from afar for what feels like centuries, I was starting to think I was going to have to intervene but it turned out fine."

Allura nods.

"I agree. While I didn't notice Keith's crush as much as you did, I did notice that Lance was flirting with not only me but everyone less. I wasn't sure what the reasoning behind that was, but now it makes perfect sense. I'm going to be very happy to see that he will not be flirting with me anymore. I see him more like a brother, and…" Allura side-eyes Shiro before continuing, "I like someone else."

Shiro, not noticing the obvious hint, smiled at her.

"That's awesome. I hope they like you back. Who are they, exactly?" Shiro said, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously.

Shiro found comfort in talking with Allura. She was the closest in age to him, and he found they had a lot in common. He was happy to have such a close friend.

Allura blushed before mumbling out "I'd rather not say."

Shiro shrugged playfully.

"That's okay, I wouldn't if I were you either. Just thought I'd ask."

Allura smiled.

∆  
∆  
∆

_Keith could tell who's laughter it was now and he is so, so very scared._

_ **Lance's.** _

∆  
∆  
∆

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it. Yep.
> 
> Oh, one little thing that contains spoilers to an extent but I don't want people yelling at me for:
> 
> There will be NO Sh*llura! After Shiro was revealed as gay I just can't imagine them being in a relationship. The Sh*llura that was vaguely there is unrequited, I just have it as a side plot/romance. 
> 
> Spoilers for Stranger Things s3 are mentioned in this part:
> 
> I just imagine them having a dynamic like Robin and Steve in Stranger Things s3 so... yep.
> 
> See you in a while, I guess.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed the first chapter! I don't quite have a schedule for this yet, but that's how life works sometimes so I'll see how it goes.
> 
> I have already started on the second chapter, but you all know (actually, you don't but) how I am with this stuff. After all, I started working on this near the beginning of the year. Well, May, to be specific, but it was still a while ago. I do think I'll be quicker with the chapters from now on, but no promises. 
> 
> See you next time!


End file.
